


Molten Gold Runs Through His Veins

by Goat_Guy



Category: Minecraft (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Running Away
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:33:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 16,462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28354737
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Goat_Guy/pseuds/Goat_Guy
Summary: It took Tommy some time to realize what he really wanted. What he wanted, was to get out of here. He couldn't stand the Dream SMP, L'manburg, he couldn't even stand his own family that didn't bother to be there for him.We he needed, was to get out of here. So of course, when given the oppertunity, he took it wothout a second thought.-----A fic for an au I made in which Tommy runs away from home and into the Nether and doesn't come back.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s), TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF) & Original Character(s), Tommyinnit & Tubbo
Comments: 34
Kudos: 330





	1. "Welcome home, Tommy"

The hot Nether wind and grunting of piglins filled Tommy's ears as he sat atop his Nether screaming Station. 

Back in the Overworld it was late. The moon had risen maybe an hour or so ago and Tommy felt so alone. He didn't know what to do so his feet led him here, sitting on the creaky wooden outcropping above the bubbling lava ocean. 

He couldn't say how long he was sat there. It was hard to exactly tell how much time passed in the Nether, with its netherrack ceiling and all. 

A few Zombified Piglins had walked by him, and of course none of them swung at him. Some seemed to stay by him longer than most, longer then Tommy assumed they would at least. 

Tommy sniffled softly. Crying was near impossible here. His tears would just evaporate instantly. But, it felt nice to do. To finally get out the emotions he felt trapped and drowning in for so long. 

His peace was suddenly halted though when he heard the dreadful screech of a ghast come from behind him, standing up and turning fast and reequipping his shield and sword, only to stop suddenly. What was in front of him wasn't a ghast, but, it was at the same time? It was a woman. A ghostly looking woman. Well, not as ghostly as Ghostbur. Uh Ghastly more likely. 

This Ghast like woman looked down at Tommy. Tommy is a tall guy, he takes pride in his height, but this woman easily had a whole foot or two more than him. She opened her eyes slowly. Tommy noted that they in fact resembled a Ghasts; a bright orange and red hue and some sort of fiery glow to them. 

He shifted slightly. The woman wasn't attacking him or doing anything of hostile nature, she was just staring. He genuinely didn't know what to do. Hybrids weren't unnatural. Hell, Ranboo was at least half enderman and Tommy couldn't give two shits about that. He was just confused as to if this woman counted as one because she looked somehow more human but at the same time more Ghast. It was confusing his already tired brain. 

Finally, she spoke. "Human, why do you carry so much pain? I have never seen someone like yourself be so...hurt."

"H-hurt? I'm not hurt! Big T doesn't get hurt. I was just, admiring the lava….wait...WHO THE FUCK ARE YOU?!" Tommy shouted, pointing his sword at her. 

The lady didn't flinch or move to avoid the blade, only continued to gaze at Tommy. "I can see it. You do not hide your emotions well, do you? You feel you've been left behind while others grow and change. Am I correct?"

Tommy trembled slightly where he stood. "How...How do you know that?" He would argue that she was wrong, but he was too confused by how she knew just by watching him.

Suddenly, the lady started to let out a choked laugh she had been holding in. She bent over, holding one of her knees. "Oh I'm sorry! I can't keep up the whole ominous facade. You talk a lot when you cry kid. Something about how some Dream guy keeps you from seeing your friends?"

The blonde's face flushed. He fumbled for words and lowered his sword, desperately trying to find some witty comeback to this strange woman. 

Said woman chuckled and placed a hand upon his head, carding through his matted hair. Tommy froze. He didn't know how to respond as the taller woman looked him over, inspecting his face for wounds or scratches and doing the same with his arms. After a minute or so, she let out a huff and enveloped Tommy in a soft and warm hug. 

All Tommy could do was tell himself to not cry. Don't you dare let a single tear slip down your damn face and-...Well fuck look at you now. Tommy hugged back on instinct. It felt like so long since someone properly hugged him. There was something about this hug though that felt different. He hadn't felt a hug like this since him and Wilbur's mother was around. 

There was a minute of silence. Then, the woman sighed and patted Tommy's head once again."You haven't been treated well, have you? This Dream guy mistreating you. He's not your friend kid. Friends don't hurt each other. Not true friends at least. If he was your friend, he wouldn't destroy your things or hit you. Not even friends in the Nether do that. And a family that won't visit? That doesn't sound like a family to me. Not a healthy one at least. Those in the Overworld do not recognize true power and pride. They don't cherish it and nurture it. They simply crush it if they believe they have no use for it. You are a perfect example of that, Fiery one. They discarded you because you were powerful and spoke your mind. You have so much potential to be strong and they feared that. I can tell that you were meant to be raised here, a place where you would be shown the right path and could grow without some green asshole pushing you down." 

Tommy had no clue what to say. He had to process everything she said. Letting out a shaky breath, he let go of the woman. "Um, who even are you?"

"Call me Gallia, kid."

"Gallia….okay. Hey wait! I'm not a kid!"

"Well if your height says anything you definitely are by Nether standards!"

"Is that why The Blade is so freakishly tall!?"

"The Blade? Who the hell is that?"

"uh...Not important. Just….some guy I knew." 

"I don't believe you. Spit it out kid." Gallia poked at Tommy's face, which annoyed the blonde.

"Fucking, stop! He's just some Piglin guy I knew…he's really good at combat and stuff."

"Huh. Okay. Not common for Piglins to leave and join overworld life." 

Tommy shrugged and sighed. He felt his bones start to become a little heavy. It was late, he knew he needed to get to bed if he was to be able to not anger Drea-... Wait. Why should he care how Dream felt? This woman, Gallia, just proved a point. He was never really appreciated in the Overworld. Never like Techno was, or Wilbur, or Phil, or Tubbo, or anyone he knew. Everyone either feared, looked up to or appreciated them. Tommy though? He was also the right hand man. The sidekick who had no control over what was happening around him. He never was able to stop Wilbur from going down his path of insanity, he never was given an opportunity to help Tubbo with his presidency, and when he finally acted out, when he finally tried to do something that made him feel like he had control in his life, he was fucking stabbed in the back for it. Everyone turned on him and said "oh you know Tommy! Always causing trouble!". And then he got exiled and even then he had no control. He threw that party, and no one came. No one wanted him anymore. No one in the Overworld at least. Maybe….maybe staying in the Nether for a little while wouldn't be too horrible.

He looked up at Gallia, his tired dulling eyes filled with a glint of new hope.

"Uh hey, tall bitch."

"Gallia."

"Tall Bitch. Um, you….you are allowed to just, take me with you, right?"

"You mean like, bring you into the Nether and you just never go back? Yeah. Don't think anyone here has a problem with that."

"Well if I….if I get some stuff before you go, can I…can I come with you?"

Gallia was silent for a moment, and then smiled. She chuckled and ruffled Tommy's hair. 

"Of course kid."

Tommy smiled brighter then he had in a while. He quickly rushed over to the Nether portal, looking back at Gallia. "Stay right there! I'll be right back!"

"You know I can come with you right?" She stood next to him in the portal, the whirring wind sound enveloping both their ears.

Tommy stumbled out the other side. It was about midnight he assumed, since the moon was at it's highest point. He looked around. No one was here. Of course no one was here. 

Tommy quickly ran over to Tnret, taking out the Netherite pick Ranboo had let him borrow. He would have to thank him for that at some point. He picked up the Enderchest, slipping it into his inventory. Rushing to Logsted, he thought about what he might need. Those chests under the house! 

Climbing down the ladder, he threw open both the chest that sat in the cobblestone room. He grabbed everything out of them; a few diamonds, some emeralds (he doesn't remember where he got those from…), some ender pearls, a golden apple he had pickpocketed off of Techno when he had visited, and some pictures of Tubbo. 

He came back up, looking around. How to Sex 3, he had to grab it. If he didn't finish it, how would the world know how to sex?! He would leave the potion stand. Maybe Ghostbur would want to stay even after Tommy leaves. He swiped the picture of L'manburg without thinking. The barrels had some food, so he made sure to pocket that. He then looked over at Mushroom Henry, fidgeting. He didn't want to leave him here but, it might be dangerous for him in the Nether. He could walk into some lava or fall off a cliff. 

Gallia came up behind Tommy, placing a hand on his shoulder. "What's up kid?" 

"Henry….I don't want to leave him here but, he won't be safe in the Nether, will he?"

"What makes you think that?"

"He isn't fire resistant."

"And? You think I'd let him get hurt if you bring him? Plus, we could easily put a saddle on him and you could use him as your loyal steed!" 

"But, you can't put saddles on cows…."

Gallia was silent for a minute and then let out an exasperated huff. "You Overworld people really limit yourselves huh? If you can put a saddle on a Strider, you can put a saddle on anything."

"Okay well I don't have a saddle."

"I do."

"How….HOW."

"Don't question me mister. Here." Gallia set the saddle securely onto Mushroom Henry, who seemed confused like Tommy. Henry looked at him, and Tommy just shrugged.

Once it was set, Gallia patted the saddle, motioning for Tommy to sit. He did so, and Henry turned his head to look at Tommy. Tommy softly patted the mooshrooms' head, and the mooshroom moo'd and went back to eating grass. It didn't feel world changin, but it didn't feel terrible to be on the Mooshroom's back. 

"Come on. I assume you've got everything, so let's go. It's a long journey to the first non Overworld run Bastion and I don't want to have to carry Henry here for a week." 

Tommy, starting to give into his slowly piling exhausting, nodded and yawned. Gallia smiled, hovering over to the Mooshroom and hooking her hands around him, lifting him and going through the portal. 

Tommy was slowly drifting off to sleep. There was something about Gallia that made him feel the safest he had been in a while. It was nice.

Galia sighed as she came out the other side of the portal, back in her home. Finding this small kid was no easy feat. Ever since she was told by the others of him, and that one Zombie Piglin who saw just how he was being treated on the other side, she knew that they couldn't leave such a Nether bound soul be stomped out. 

Flying over the lava ocean, a tight grip on the Mooshroom and human boy, she let out a content sigh, looking down at Tommy. The sleeping blonde finally looked at peace. 

"Welcome home, Tommy."


	2. No Party is completely without some friends!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy and Gallia have a long way to go to get far enough away from the SMP's hand. They decide to stop at the first town on the land the Nether Empire still owns, and Tommy was not prepared to go from exile to instantly having friends again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fuck it double post :]
> 
> It's 3am please help.

Tommy sighed. The stuffy air of the Nether never seemed this bad. Then again, he never really had stayed in the Nether for more than an hour or two at most. It felt like breathing in a spicy pepper, a fire and straight smoke all at once. 

It had been maybe a few days to a week since Tommy, well, he didn't like thinking of it as an escape or running away. Moved on. It had been awhile since Tommy moved on from Logsted. 

Gallia had proven herself to be a strong woman, not only physically but she was pretty smart and knew when Tommy seemed too tired or overwhelmed by something. She also could speak to actual Nether folk, which was nice since Tommy couldn't and it made a lot of hostile situations end peacefully. 

Each day had been spent moving from Bastion to Bastion, Gallia saying that getting away from the parts of the Nether the SMP had claimed was difficult because it spread out pretty far. 

Now though, they were resting at a run down Basion that sat on the shore of an endless looking lava ocean. Tommy shuddered, thinking about how bad it would be to fall in there mid travel. 

Henry was doing well. He was able to safely consume some of the strange grass-like plant that grew on the Crimson and Warped mycelium. At least, if there was any affect it didn't seem to be fatal. 

Tommy sighed, taking a sip from his canteen. His eyes were starting to burn a bit from the brightness of the close by lava and his hair was getting dirtier by the day. Overall, life's going great. 

Gallia walked into the small, broken room that Tommy was in with Henry. It lacked a wall that would have faced the lava ocean. He was sitting against one of the still standing walls, dangling one his legs off the side. 

The ghast hybrid took a deep inhale and let it out, stretching her arms up. "Ready kiddo? It's gonna be a long way till we get to the nearest town."

Tommy perked at that, slightly confused. "Closest town? There are towns here in the Nether?"

"Yeah there are. You of course wouldn't know because Overworld walkers don't treat them well. They tear em' down and never speak of their existence. The only intact and safe one is on the other side of that ocean."

The blonde nodded slightly. Every time Gallia told him more and more about the relationship the people of the Nether and the people of the Overworld had, he slowly started to think that maybe he really should never go back.

He nodded more firmly to Gallia. "I'm ready to go. Henry here seems ready as well." 

Gallia smiled, hovering over to Henry and picking him up with ease. Tommy got onto the saddle, which he had noted seemed to almost be a normal saddle, but the buckles and the leather itself were either Netherite or almost like it was coated in the indestructible material. 

Everytime Gallia traversed these kinds of areas, Tommy had always fallen asleep. This time though, he felt fully rested for once. It was nice. Gallia's long whitebhair did get in the way of his eyes though, which at this time wasn't horrible since there wasn't really anything but lava and striders surrounding them, but it was still annoying. 

The travel was mainly silent, Tommy breaking it by coughing every now and then or speaking up to point out a funny Strider he saw in the lava or the pack of Zombie Piglins riding Striders across the ocean. These things, no matter how small, amazed Tommy. Learning that all these things were important, seeing how the Nether worked even if just the bare minimal level was astonishing to the teen.

Tommy had taken to noticing smaller things that happened around him now. The Nether was much less overwhelming than the Overworld. He could pick out Piglin's communicating to each other, never what they were saying though. He noticed how the wind in the Nether would sometimes pick up and become stronger and other times it would lessen and be more of a breeze. Lava here seemed more like a dance of heat and light than in caves and pools of the Overworld. He also had become aware of a society he never thought existed before. Gallia had many a times waved to Piglins, Zombie Piglins, Ghasts or even Magma Cubes as they both traveled, and a lot of them waved back. She never stopped to talk with any mob, stating that getting Tommy somewhere safe was her top priority. 

It took about two days to fully cross the lava ocean. Thankfully they had found a small island of sorts to rest and Tommy was able to stretch his legs properly. It felt like forever since Tommy had seen Logsted, but he knew it wasn't that long at all. 

For the first time the whole trip, Tommy gripped tightly at the compass he had stored in Wilbur's old Pogtopia coat. Part of him thought that maybe if he had ignored it, it would just disappear and he could forget that everything was real. That he was never allowed back in L'manburg, that Tubbo hated him, that everyone he had ever trusted had stabbed him in the back when he needed them most. He didn't bother looking at the compass. He knew it wouldn't work unless him and Tubbo were in the same realm (Meanwhile Tubbo is sitting in the L'manburg white house losing it because his compass is going nuts.). 

Tommy sighed. He was sat atop Henry, who was walking next to Gallia. They had reached some solid land, and according to Gallia, the closest town was only a little farther away. 

Slowly, a large obsidian wall came into Tommy's view. It was a wall surrounding the town. From what Tommy remembered, this town was mainly inhabited by hybrids and soldiers, both of which lived in this town to keep back the Overworld walkers from taking more of the Nether. It was a smart idea in his opinion.

A Piglin in Netherite armour noticed them and turned to what Tommy thought was a Zombie Piglin in similar armor, which confused him because he had never seen Zombie Piglins wear armour before. Then, Tommy heard what he can only describe as angry grunting from the Piglin, which he came to learn from Gallia that Piglin grunting was the equivalent of hearing someone talk in a New York accent. Tommy had not known how to feel when learning this information a few days ago. 

Tommy sat where he was as Gallia talked back and forth with the Piglin, speaking of course in Nether tongue, so all Tommy could do was wait for them to finish. 

He looked up at the Zombie Piglin, who seemed to be as engaged in the conversation as the Piglin, just without saying anything. They took a few glances over at Tommy now and then as well. 

Eventually, Gallia nudged his shoulder, motioning her head towards the gates of the wall, which were slowly being lowered. "Come on kid. You got permission to be here now. Congrats."

"Permission? Just like that? No big meeting, papers to sign? No like citizenship regulations?" 

"Nope. Not here in the Nether."

"Oh…" Tommy singled to Henry to keep walking. The walls were thick. Thicker than the walls Dream had even put around L'manburg. 

The first thing that caught Tommy's attention was how bustling the town was. People were out and about; talking to one another, shopping, eating at what he assumed were restaurants of sorts. He even noticed some kids. Some looked very young while others seemed to be around the same age as him, or he assumed so. Gallia had said that people who were either Nether Folk or Nether Hybrids were naturally much taller, thus how Tommy fit in so well, plus his naturally fiery personality. 

Gallia took hold of the reins on Henry's saddle, leading him and Tommy deeper into the town.

"I've got a friend who'll house us for a while. Our next stop is...Uh how do I say it in Overworld tongue?...Fire Stone. The next town is called Fire Stone. It sounds much prettier in our tongue." 

"Okay. I'll trust ya there. Why do we have to go to another town after this? This place seems pretty cool."

"This town is as bare bones as any place here in the Nether. It exists to be strong yet also be movable and easily torn down from the inside in case of an invade. It doesn't even have a proper name." 

"...What about something like Base "Operation Obsidian"... No that doesn't sound like a town name… what about uh… "

"Stop thinking so hard. You're gonna hurt yourself."

"Rude."

Tommy's attention was suddenly shifted when he felt someone run into his side. Well, more the side of his leg and Henry's side. He looked over and saw a Zombie Piglin, but shorter. Shorter than other Zombie Piglins but around the same height as him, he roughly assumed. 

Their one remaining eye looked up st Tommy as the person seemed to be thinking of something.

A slow femanine voice caught him off guard. "Uh...You. You are an Overworld folk. Do you understand the things I say?"

"Yeah. You don't gotta treat me like some toddler because I don't speak Nether tongue."

The Zombie Piglin, who seemed to get excited at this new visitor turned to a group of other people, who were a mix of fully Nether blood and Hybrids, but all seemed to be around the same age. They all rushed over, talking over each other. 

Tommy tried to ignore them, but Gallia pulled Henry over to the side of some building, leaned against it and looked at Tommy. 

"Why don't you try to make some friends, kiddo. You deserve some. Unlike you, those kids haven't been through wars and maybe having friends who haven't will be refreshing for you."

Tommy grumbled and hesitantly slid off the saddle, but stayed next to Henry, carding his shaky hands through the Mooshroom's short fur.

The group of teens ran up to him, about eight or so of them. The Zombie Piglin held out their hand, which was slightly rotten around the joint and that made Tommy's stomach churn. 

"Hello Worldy! We haven't seen one of your kind here! Look guys! His skin is so pale, but not like Ghast pale."

"I'd argue that it is Ghast pale." A guy that Tommy assumed was some kind of Blaze-Human hybrid spoke up, grabbing at one side of Tommy's Wilbur coat and looking at it confused.

"He's got blue eyes too. That's very rare around here. They look nice." Tommy felt himself shrink inside at how many eyes were on him at once. The new voice seemed to be from another Blaze hybrid who seemed more Blaze than human and younger than the other blaze hybrid. 

"Guys stop, you don't know where he's been. He could be dirty. He sure looks it." this person confused Tommy. Looking at them, they appeared to be a Phantom hybrid. Why a phantom hybrid was living in the Nether of all places he could not understand.

Tommy desperately wanted to cover himself with Wilbur's coat and hide, forget that socializing with people was a thing he was expected to do. 

Suddenly, Tommy felt hands going through one of his pockets and looked over at a Piglin hybrid girl grabbing his Tubbo. Tommy acted on a second, quickly taking the compass back and looking at the hybrid with what he tried to make anger to possibly intimidate her, but it was filled more with anxiety and fear. 

"D-don't touch shit that isn't yours." 

"Sorry, she has sticky fingers. Teka you can't take people's things without asking." this person was a full Wither Skeleton and Tommy didn't know how to feel because their boney hand was close to his arm, trying to show some sort of apology, but Tommy's been touched by one before, and he'd rather not be suddenly withered and die. 

Said Teka just scoffed, folding her arms and moving her dull reddish hair behind a pig like ear. The resemblance between her and Techno made Tommy uncomfortable….well, of course Techno was a full blooded Piglin and this Teka girl wasn't. But there were still obvious similarities and Tommy didn't like it. 

In all honesty, the only thing keeping him from having a breakdown right here and now was that Henry was nuzzling his head into Tommy's chest, aware that the boy didn't feel safe and was being overwhelmed. 

There were two others; a magma slime hybrid and a ghast hybrid who was more on the human side then Gallia was. Tommy didn't notice them and they didn't say anything to him, noticing that he didn't seem in that great a mood, unlike the others who were bombarding him with questions and such.

The zombie Piglin girl spoke up again. "Hello other worldly dude! Im Reker! I'm what you call a Zombie Piglin. This is my friend Heften, he's a Blaze Hybrid and this is Deklin, she's also a Blaze hybrid but she's not related to Heften. That right there is Vessa, a Phantom hybrid. He's very mean on the outside but it's only 'cause he's smart. You've met Teka easily. She likes taking people's things, but then gets mad when you take her stuff. That is Daisy. They are a very nice Wither Skeleton, and they won't hurt you. They wear special gloves so they won't hurt their friends! Aka US!! And those two quiet losers back there are Flare and Quincen. They are twins, but not really twins. Like, adopted twins. I think…Anyways what's your name?"

Tommy is unsure if he even retained any of that. "Um… Tommy." 

"That's a lame name."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uh so rlly long end note:
> 
> Just as a helpful thing, I'll be putting a list of Original Characters that have been introduced so far in the story!  
> \---------  
> Gallia:  
> 23 in human years, she/her, a Ghast/human hybrid who has taken it upon herself to act as Tommy's parental guardian after helping him runaway from his exile.
> 
> Reker:  
> 15 in human years, she/her, a Zombie Piglin who is very excitable and friendly. Has decided she and Tommy will be best friends. 
> 
> Heften:  
> 16 in human years, he/him, a Blaze/Human hybrid who is more blunt and true eith people. He find amusment in angering people, but get easily angered himself.
> 
> Deklin:  
> 13 in human years, she/her, a Blaze/Human hybrid but more human then blaze, not related to Heften, she take's amazement in things that confuse her, such as things from the Overworld. 
> 
> Vessa:  
> 15 in human years, he/they, a Phantom/Human hybrid that is a book worm of sorts and is described as trading their soul and feelings in exchange for the world's secrets.
> 
> Teka (TekaMace):  
> 17 in human years, she/him, a Piglin/Human hybrid who Tommy has noted has many similarities to Technoblade, except she seems much more quiet then him and a bit more on the agressive side....And a woman. 
> 
> Daisy:  
> 17 in human years, they/them, a Wither Skeleton. Actually very nice and shy, usuall the one to reign in Teka if needed. Parent friend.
> 
> Flare:  
> 14 in human years, he/they, a Magma Slime/Piglin hybrid. More the quiet kind and perceptive. Anilitical and could destroy you in a rap battle. Adopted twins with Quincen
> 
> Quincen:  
> 14 in human years, he/him, a Ghast/Human hybrid. Is very intune with other's emotions, a bit of a softie but hides it as if he's like his adopted twin Flare. 
> 
> Bonus "characters"-
> 
> TekaSpear:  
> 37 in human years, he/him, a Piglin. The Piglin guard that Gallia talked with at the Obsidian wall. TekaMace's uncle.
> 
> Grunter:  
> 28 in human years, he/him, the quiet and observant Zombie Piglin who stood watch with TeakSpear.  
> _________________________  
> A quick explination to TekaMace and TekaSpear;  
> TechnoBlade is my personal hc is a full blood Piglin and he has said that his character's dad was named TechnoGun, and he's TechnoBlade and to gain his father's name he would have had to kill him, so I have a hc that Piglins have a weird family naming system where a family group all goes by the same Prefix and the suffix is always a weapon of some kind.  
> __________________________  
> I made a playlist for this au already so if anyone would like to listen to it uh here :]
> 
> https://open.spotify.com/playlist/53RhQyq8hggjXWprNNM1gw?si=FOJxA3KERYGIMJlXKJtGww
> 
> If some songs don't make sense, don't worry, they will soon enought òwó  
> (if the link doesn't work I'm sorry, mobile doesn't like people aka me)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy takes some time off from being a closed book and opens up to Gallia about his life in the Overworld and Tommy realizes that maybe makinf new friend's isn't a bad thing, until it is.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick CW kind for Tommy just like, talking about his trauma. 
> 
> Also it's 6am and I haven't slept please help?

It didn't take long for Tommy to learn that night didn't really exist in the Nether. Well, people did get tired and settle down but sleeping was very different here then back in the Overworld. Normal beds would explode on contact, but Tommy didn't get exactly why.

Instead, it was more just sleeping on some thick wool blankets with Gallia waking him up every hour or so. He didn't get if this was some weird prank or something.

Gallia poked him in the shoulder, trying to wake him up for the fifth time that night. Tommy, being cranky and tired, grabbed her wrist and aggressively moved it away.

"Fucking stop! I just want to sleep please. I am so tired. I haven't slept properly for a week and now that I have the closest thing to a bed I just want to rest."

"Hey kid, if it was up to me I'd let you sleep, really. But it isn't. Don't want you blowing a hole in this place because you get too peaceful of a sleep."

"Do you mean when beds blow up?"

"Yeah. It's not because you're sleeping by the way, or that the bed reacts weird to the Nether; it's because all people from the Overworld dream. You all have strong and vivid dreams, and the Nether is the opposite then those. Thus the raw energies combining like so, causes an explosion. There's a special training you can do to make it so you no longer dream like that, but it's a give take situation. Peaceful sleep in return for blank sleep."

"That's no question I'd gladly hand over dreaming to sleep well." 

"okay asshole maybe think about it a little."

"Why should I? It's not like any of the dreams I have are ever nice."

"You have nightmares often?"

"Guess you could say that."

"Mind if I ask what they're about?"

"Stop trying to read me or some shit. I'm no book."

"You do realize talking about your problems is how you fix them Tommy? I get that you're a big strong man, but even men gotta cry now and then."

Tommy was silent, thinking and debating in his head on what was the best option; let out everything he had been desperately ignoring and bottled up, or going back to sleep…   
He let out a heavy sigh, his shoulders sagging down. 

Gallia smiled softly, ready to listen to what Tommy had to say.

Tommy took in a deep inhale and let it out in a shaky sigh.

".....Fuck you." Tommy laid back down and rolled facing away from Gallia, covering himself with one of the blankets.

Gallia sputtered for a moment, trying to recognize that what just happened, happened. 

"Okay listen here you little-.....Tommy, listen. I understand you don't want to talk about it and I'm not going to force you to talk about it, but understand that the longer you let these things fester, the worse they'll become."

Under the wool blanket, Tommy let out a soft cry. He didn't want to cry, but she was right. It hurt a lot. He didn't even know what was hurting but something inside him hurt and bottling it up hurt more.

He sat up, keeping the blanket close to him. He was still wearing Wilbur's coat, refusing to take it off for even a second. That, the compass, a friendship emerald and the damn handkerchief he wore were all he really had left of what his life used to be like, before Wilbur lost it, before Tubbo decided Tommy was better off alone, before Phil started picking favorites, before Techno wanted nothing more than to see L'manburg and everything Tommy cared for and had left burn to ashes, before… Dream.

"I… I used to be part of the awesome country called L'manburg. I fought in wars for it. I lost lives to make sure it was safe. And my br-...This guy named Wilbur, he was the leader for a while. He used to be cool until he lost the election for president of L'manburg and then he started going all nuts, saying things like 'oh let's be the bed guys Tommy' and he would go on these crazy ramblings for so long that I wouldn't be able to sleep at night, and then eventually he blew up L'manburg, after we fought so hard to save it. I...I watched him destroy the thing I poured my heart and soul into. I watched him….i watched him go behind our backs and destroy L'manburg. And then I watched him be slaughtered by this guy named Phil, and then that Technoblade guy, he summoned in a bunch of withers and forced them to attack us and destroy L'manburg further. And he…he killed my friend Tubbo. He killed him twice actually. And then we were left to try and rebuild a whole country. Then I, then I did one little prank that got out of hand. I didn't mean to set his house on fire. I accidently tripped and fell on a chest with a lava bucket in it. I swear I tried to stop the fire but no one believed me. All I wanted to do was steal a few little things and prove he wasn't that strong. And then Tubbo he, he exiled me and Dream would visit me every day and he forced me to put my things in a hole and blow them up and then he always told me about how Tubbo hated me and I just… I couldn't…."

Tommy wasn't too sure when he had started crying, but now he was breaking down, body shaking as sobs ripped their way out of him. His throat hurt, his eyes burned and his emotions were hurt. Overall, everything was hell. It felt like his ribs shaked with every breath he took. 

Gallia sat next to him, slowly pulling him into a side hug, running her hand through his hair. 

Eventually, Tommy calmed down. He felt so tried and he couldn't protest against his body giving into exhaustion. Gallia didn't bother to wake him.

\---

The blonde let out an annoyed noise as he was being pulled by the excited younger zombie Piglin. Reker, if that was what he remembered correctly, had shown up to where Tommy and Galia were staying, stating that she had been waiting three hours for Tommy to wake up so she could talk to him. Apparently being friendly was just as common in the Nether. 

Reker led Tommy through town, dragging him behind her as she ran up to what looked almost like a rundown factory. She ushered him to go inside, and when she decided he was being too slow she just pushed him in herself. 

Inside was the rest of the other teens Tommy had met the day before. Teka was leaned against a metal beam by the entrance. She looked Tommy up and down and let out a grunt, almost as if she gave him permission to be here. Tommy felt offended a bit on the inside. 

Everyone else was sitting in somewhat of a broken circle, talking to each other. 

Vessa, the weird Phantom hybrid, looked up upon the new arrival. "Ah you've brought him, good."

"Am I being kidnapped?"

"No. Unlike your kind we don't believe in kidnapping people. You're here because we've all agreed that you need to learn Nether culture and fast, cause you are honestly just a slob."

"Dude I haven't been able to shower in like two weeks of course I'm gonna-"

"This has nothing to do with your hygiene. I'm talking about the way you act."

Tommy was silent to that, rubbing one of his arms. 

"We can teach him how to play Strider Surfing!"

"This isn't about teaching him games Deklin. We gotta teach him how to be cool." Heften spoke, chuckling to himself a bit. 

"Also you could do with a change of clothes. That coat doesn't look too great and there's a big hole in the back of it."

"I'm not getting rid of it. You can't make me."

"Whatever man."

Reker sat down, patting the spot next to her aggressively.

Vessa was the first to speak up.

"First of all, you don't need to stand straight up like that. The only people who do that are the royal family and Overworlds."

Tommy sat there for hours, listening to everyone bitch about something he was doing wrong or correcting a certain mannerism. He even learned a few things in Nether tongue, which was handy. 

They were currently in the middle of Vessa trying to clean off dirt from Tommy's face, which Tommy fought back when the playful banter of all the teens was broken by the sound of rumbling. 

Looking over to one of the walls less lit, they all saw the too obvious sight of a Nether Portal make itself, meaning someone in the Overworld happen to pick the worst spot in the world to build one. 

Teka instantly sprang to her feet, drawing a crimson wooden sword, getting ready to protect her group of friends if needed. 

They stood there for about five minutes and nothing happened. No one came through. It was strange. 

Part of Tommy instantly assumed that Dream had somehow found him and was now preparing to come through that portal and destroy this town and kill all the people here. Tommy didn't want that….Tommy didn't want that? Since when did he care if Dream hurt others other than Tommy himself and Tubbo? 

Tommy was ripped from his thoughts as the portal rippled, indicating that someone was going to come through. 

What shocked Tommy, was that it wasn't anyone he knew. It was actually a Piglin man, who looked nothing like Technoblade.

The man wore glasses, his fur was a lighter and duller color, he was more lanky and his tusks seemed to be longer. 

The man pulled himself to his feet again, rushing over to the portal and breaking part of it, separating the connection to the Overworld. He looked over at the group of teens, his eyes instantly landing on Tommy. There seemed to be something going behind to the man's eyes that Tommy couldn't pinpoint.

Finally, someone spoke; "RyoGun what the fuck! What are you doing here! I thought you were working with the royal court. Why are you here, let alone why did you use the Overworld?!"

This said Ryo pushed over Teka with ease, not responding to her questions, and instead opted to walk up to Tommy, holding the boy's face in his hands. 

"I can answer all those questions later Mace. I need to know who this boy's overlooker is and how they found him so quick." 

Tommy had no fucking clue what was going on.

After getting RyoGun to sit down and explain himself, Tommy learned that apparently a royal court and family existed in the Nether, and they happen to luckily be very far from the Nether Hub. He had been in the Overworld in search of someone. Apparently a squad of Zombie Piglins had gone missing after being sent to look for someone else, but when he had gotten close to the Dream SMP, he had been instantly attacked and had barely made it out alive. He spoke of a man in a whire hoodie and full netherite and a humanoid cat in full netherite as well. Punz and Antfrost. There's no way it couldn't be them. And of course they would attack someone at first sight. 

"And what really scared me was this fella in all green and a mask. He said something about a-"

"Wait. You saw a man in all green and a mask?"

"I did. Do you know him by any chance?"

"...Yeah. That's Dream. He's the big puppet master behind the smp lands. Those two guys, Punz and Antfrost, that attacked only did so because he gives them the direct orders to do things like that. You want to avoid him at all costs."

"You seem to know a lot about these people, Tommy."

"Sadly." 

"Well, I can tell it's a subject you'd rather not discuss in such company, so I will always ask this Gallia lady about taking up this topic once again."

"Okay."

Ryo walked out of the building, stumbling every so often from his still there injuries. 

Tommy sighed, and then jumped when he felt a warm hand on his shoulder. Flare, the pigling/magma cube hybrid gave him a trying comfort pat on the back and then looked at him. 

"Hey man, you wanna learn how to Strider surf?" 

"Sounds chaotic. Sure."

Flare laughed and led the group of other teens down to an almost dock-like area that branched to one of the lava ways of the lava ocean. There were plenty of striders tied to posts and many that roamed free. 

All the teens got onto their own personal striders, while Tommy was offered one by Flare. Apparently Flare's parents owned a Strider company/ranch of sorts. 

Getting the hang of it wasn't hard. They moved quite fast in lava and Tommy lurched forwards a few times when the Strider made the transitions of land to lava, but overall it was easy.

And apparently, Strider Surfing was what it sounded like. You stood on top of a moving strider and jumped from one Strider to another until you reached the soul-sand shore. That part worried Tommy a bit but thankfully, no one forced him to do it. 

Flare was showing off his obvious skill in the game, pushing Teka off of her Strider multiple times and into the Lava. Thankfully for them they were all fire-proof and it was as if Tommy was pushed into a pool of water. Tommy isn't.

At one point Heften and Reker rode up next to Tommy, playing almost like bumper cars with him. Tommy couldn't help but laugh, joining in. At one point Reker pushed Heften into the lava with full force but only lightly nudged Tommy, not wanting to make him possibly lose balance. 

Teka, finally able to pull herself onto her Strider and push Flare in instead, rode fast towards the group of three, just trying to get away from Flare.

She noticed what they were all doing, and jokingly bumped her Strider into Reker's, chuckling when the Zombie Piglin let out an unsuspected yelp. Reker moved out of the way and Teka's eyes locked on Tommy. She rode over, bumping her Strider into his and drawing his attention away from trying to chase Heften. Challenge accepted.

Tommy bumped into her, laughing at the competitive look that Teka wore. Teka lightly pushed at Tommy, and Tommy of course pushed back. 

It didn't process in Teka's head as to why Tommy didn't push with more force then she had, as was par for this kind of play, so she did so herself. Tommy shortly lost balance but easily kept himself on the Strider. 

This didn't fully run through Tommy's head as a sign to stop and move away from Teka, so he reached out to go and push her but Teka moved her Strider away. Tommy got a hold of her arm and was hanging there between his own Strider and Teka. 

Teka grabbed his wrist and pushed it off her own, and Tommy didn't grab on soon enough. 

One hand tightly holding onto the Strider and the other, elbow deep in lava.

It all felt unreal for Tommy, shock taking hold immediately. So fast that he didn't fully pull himself up and part of his neck and face got too close as well. 

It wasn't till Flare looked over that Tommy was pulled out. Flare was freaking out shouting for the others to get help. Everyone was confused on why that happened to Tommy, why he wasn't fine. All Flare said was he was from the Overworld, there was no way he could be naturally lava proof. 

Tommy felt hot. That's all that registered for him. He felt hot and scared and confused. There was a light tingle of pain on the far parts of his nerves but it was hard to focus on. Everything was hard to focus on. What he was confused about was why Flare was yelling, and why it was somewhat muddled, and why Flare was holding Tommy's head in a way that made it so he couldn't look at his left arm. He was scared because the lava had been so close. He had almost fallen in. That wouldn't have been fun. 

Next thing Tommy knew, he was being carried by Gallia. Huh, he doesn't remember her being here. Slowly, confusion was turned sour and fear started to worsen, the pain on the edges of Tommy's consciousness growing stronger, and then everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It feels like so much happened in this chapter but so little happened at the same time


	4. A king is found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The most non Tommy centric chapter that will probably exist. Tommy isn't dead, but tensions grow within his new group of friends. Teka realizes maybe she shouldn't be an asshole and Flair proves why he should be the readers favorite 'np'.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cw for fighting, descriptions of Tommy's injury and suicidal intentions (they start and end with ×, so if you want to skip that you may)

The commotion outside the tall blackstone building held up traffic in the town. A large group of people hustled together, asking what was going on, if the kid was okay and all kinds of worried murmurs. The piglin guard sighed, trying to keep the group of Nether Folk calmed, telling them he had no clue, but clogging the front of the building and the street was not the best idea. 

Inside the dark walls, Gallia was pacing back and forth, glancing at the bed that an unconscious Tommy laid in, hastily wrapped in bandages. RyoGun sighed, trying to remove small scrapes of the burnt fabric of the long coat Tommy had refused to take off, which had now melded to the boy's burnt left arm. Or well, what was left of his arm. 

Ryo was the closest thing to a doctor the group had on hand that instant, but he wasn't exactly a doctor so the best he could do was a shitty job until actual help was available.

Almost on command, a Blaze hybrid woman, who was more blaze then human, walked in, sighing at the sight she saw. Burns and lava incidents were uncommon. Many humans, Overworlds and even some Netherfolk weren't 100% fire and lava proof, but they usually don't get this bad. The Blaze woman looked at Ryo, shooing him away. 

"So did he fall in? I haven't seen a case this bad before."

"He was accidentally pulled in. Basically face first but he probably put his hand out to catch himself on instinct."

"Well, good news is he is stable, bad news is obvious but, he lost about 60% of his arm. That definitely cannot be healed. The wound somehow cauterized itself, probably from the high heat of the lava, but it seems it also killed a good bit of tissue around it. Even with what is still there, no potions could rebuild tissue from what's left. He's also lost a lot of cartilage, most of his outer ear is burnt down. If he's lucky he'll still be able to hear, but cosmetically, he isn't the luckiest. He most likely passed out from pain and sudden drop of adrenaline. When was the last time he properly slept?"

"He… he hasn't been taught how to suppress his dreams yet. He's Overworld born, so sleeping is dangerous for him."

The doctor looked at Gallia, confused and then back to Tommy. 

"Ma'am, with all due respect, if this boy couldn't do that, he would have already blown my hospital to the End and back. Well, you don't have to worry. He's in good care with us here. We are an army town, so he'll be treated with the best doctors we've got."

Gallia let out a relieved sigh, her shoulders slumping and finally relaxing somewhat. Ryo did the same, wringing his hands together and pushing up his glasses. They both exited the room and into the hallway, where the group of teens were, mumbling to each other in hushed voices. 

The second the two adults entered, they all went silent, looking up worried.

"Don't worry, the doctor said he'll be fine."

All of them visibly relaxed. Deklin wiped away at the tears that pricked her eyes, Heften rubbing her back. Vessa started anxiously thumbing through a book, obviously trying to pretend this situation didn't stress him as much as it did. Daisy tapped their hands together, the gloves making soft clicking sounds which Quincen was taking interest in. 

A few feet away, Teka stood, leaning against one of the walls, looking down at her hooved feet. She refused to look up. If she did, she'd have to face the infuriated look the Flare wore on their face. Flare was standing next to Teka, facing the fellow piglin hybrid. He cleared his throat, trying to get her to look up at him.

"Teka, this isn't a problem you can fucking run from. Not this time. If we weren't lucky, you could've gotten him killed. Teka. Teka fucking face what you've done."

Teka hesitated, but slightly looked Flare in the eyes, desterbed by the magma hot stare the other wore. Their eyes being the actual colors of magma didn't help. 

"Listen; I get that you think you're hot shit just because you're family is part of the royal guard, but I can say for sure that you're uncle would be fucking dissapointed to hear what you just let happen. No actually, what you just did."

"Don't get fucking smarty with me! I didn't know he'd-"

"No Teka! You did fucking know! Admit it. I know deep down you fucking hate Tommy. You hate him cause you envy him. You're not the only one who feels it. We all know he's gonna become someone strong and you hate him 'cause you want what he has. But guess what Teka; mother fuckers like who are the ones destined to fucking rip and slaughter your way to the top only to realize that you've lost all the people who cared for you, and then you fall, and you fall hard."

"Y-you asshole. I'm not envious of that little shit! And don't you dare raise your voice at your superior!"

"That's what you can't get through your fucking skull man! No one here gives a shit what your position in the guard is! You can't use that bull shit on us. In this group, we are equals, we're friends. And friends hold each other accountable when they fuck up like this."

"You are so disrespectful. Holy shit. You know what? I don't give a fuck what happened to that blonde shit head. He probably deserved it-"

Teka was caught off by a swift and hard punch to the face, sending her onto her hands and knees. She was shocked. No one ever stands up to her like this. Her hand shakily came up to her mouth, her lip busted slightly. Flare huffed, shaking their hand in pain.

"Listen here Teka; you may be the eldest here, but by no means do you hold any more worth than the rest of us. We have only just met Tommy and you've almost killed him. I think you should maybe take some more time to rethink if being a guard is really meant for you."

With that, Flare turned around and sat back down with the group. When asked what that was all about, they simply said it was nothing much, just telling Teka the truth.

Inside the room, the blaze hybrid sighed, peeling the dirty old coat that the boy wore. How he had been still up and moving fine while wearing such a heavy coat was beyond her. What confused her more was that there was a hole in the back of it, as if it had been ripped by some outward force. It had patches that made no sense to her, one looked almost like a flag but not one she's ever seen in history books before. 

She went to set down the coat when a piece of folded paper fell out of an inside pocket on the unburnt side. It was obviously weathered and old, the sides uneven and when unfolded, the creases were deep and the ink was slightly fading and bled into the paper. The writing looked almost manic and messy, a few places it was hard to fully read what it said.

×  
'Tommy if you're reading this it means his plan worked. I blew up our home. I did it. I never wanted to but L'manburg was never meant to be a place. I should have known when we were first blown up. Deep down I knew writing that declaration would only end in pain, but I didn't want to believe it. L'manburg was an ideology. Freedom of the people, escape from an iron grip, the right to live free lives. In my final hours of sanity, I want you to know that no matter what happens, I love you. I'm sorry for everything I've said, the things I've made you do. I know you'll never forgive me, but know that no matter what, you're my little brother, and your safety and happiness were always first in my mind. No matter what happens, no matter what I say before I do it, I don't mean it. If I tried to force you to be president, I'm so sorry. You're a kid. You should have never been involved. I've put you through so much pain, and I'll pay for it the only way I know how. I'll be the closest to the blast, so I'll hopefully be taken out with the hell I created. My unfinished Symphony shall be the death of me, and I'm fine with that. Tommy, I love you. My little brother, know that L'manburg was never a caravan, never a city, but you. You are L'manburg. You are everything our great "city" stood for. Freedom, independence, self power, a fire to question those above you. For me, live on so that L'manburg can live as well. Not the city, but what it stood for. It is not your time to die, but mine. And please, for me, kill Dream. Eret was right, It was never meant to be…  
-Wilbur'  
×

The doctor stared down at the paper. She didn't know how to feel. Whoever this "Wilbur" guy was, he obviously was related to Tommy. He called him little brother twice and he obviously cared about the young boy. What she could tell though, was that this man was in so much pain writing this. If not from the way the writing looked, it was obvious by the wording. This teetered on the edge of a letter and a suicide note. Whatever L'manburg was, it was obvious that something had gone wrong with it, and that the day after this was written, it must have been blown sky high. 

There was also a compass in the right pocket. It was hot to the touch and it shined with a similar sparkle as if it was enchanted. When she held it up to her eyes, a name appeared. 'Your Tubbo'. The doctor simply folded what remained of the coat and placed it on the chair next to Tommy's bed, placed the compass on top of that and the paper on top of the compass. 

She looked back at Tommy, leaning down to inspect his burnt arm. Everything below the elbow was gone, and the elbow itself. A lot of his upper arm had been either burnt off as well or was nothing but charred flesh and dead tissue. His face wasn't faring too well either. The skin there had been burnt as well and was flaking off, revealing almost bright red raw weak skin and muscle. The burn went from what was left of the kids left arm up his neck and face. 

The doctor, who's tag read Dr.Wellser, grabbed a healing potion from the cabinet of them, uncorking it and dabbing some onto a cloth. She sat next to Tommy's bed, lightly wiping at the burns on his face and neck. It would hurt like hell if he was being treated in the Overworld. Thanks to Wellser being part Blaze, she could make her own potions and make them stronger than those in the overworld. The healing should of course speed up the reproduction of skin and muscle cells and tissue, but also would numb any pain, well at least lessen it to that of maybe a dull thud. She soaked some bandages in morehealting and even regeneration pots, discarding the bandages that Ryo had put around the burns in an attempt to help. 

Wellser didn't know Tommy, she wasn't told much about him, but she did hear those kids who were sitting outside mention something about a feeling he gave them. There was something about this boy. He had, a fire to him. Even unconscious she could tell. And with that note, she knew there was a fire burning bright in this kid's soul. 

Teka huffed, walking away from the hospital and to the large bastion that sat in the center of town. Guards were all around it; either actually guardian the bastion as practice, practicing fighting, just chatting, or eating. A few guards, cladded in Netherite armor, waved at Teka. She didn't wave back. 

Boots stomping on Blackstone echoed through the hall as the pigling hybrid walked deeper into the bastion, searching for her father's office. Her father, TekaWar, was the head guard for this city. Teka's family was known for being loyal to the royal family, whether it be being guards or something else. She had been too young to remember if she ever met the family, but she had also lived in this town for basically her whole life. 

She knew everyone here. Everyone knew her. Everyone respected her. So, when some skinny blonde brat from the Overworld of all places shows up and everyone likes him and he stands up to her, she snapped. 

It is common for those of Piglin blood to have anger issues. But it was rare for them to indulge in their blood lust, envy and anger like Teka did. Sue her for making it feel like she was alive. She had been surrounded by people all her life telling her to not do such indulging, which only made her want to do it more.

She was stood outside the blue vine covered door, her hand hovering above the doorknob. She… she shouldn't go in. Father would be disappointed in what she did. Her parents genuinely cared for her and tried to help her control her "out burts", which she hated them for. 

Teka was snapped out of her thoughts when the door opened, swinging into the office. There in the doorway stood her father; a tall human man with short cut black hair. Yes her father was human, but he still went by a Piglin name. He was Nether born to a Piglin-Human family, he just happen to get a weird gene set. Okay he was mainly human but still had the Piglin tusks and when standing in sunlight of the Overworld for a long time his hair tips could turn slightly pink, but he was still mainly human….like maybe 89%.

He softly smiled down at her, closing the door as he walked into the hall. "Hello Mace. Did you need something?"

"U-uhm, no I just came here because I had nothing else to do."

"You sure about that? Not even apologizing to that boy you almost killed?"

"....I didn't mean to almost kill him…"

"Mace, be honest with me sweetheart."

Teka took a deep breath, and then proceeded to punch a hole in the Blackstone wall. 

"It's unfair! I busted my ass through guard school, graduated early, forced myself to be nice and he just fucking waltzed in here and everyone who meets him seems to like him!"

"It's normal to be envious of someone who has something you want. Maybe, you should go and apologize to your friends and then to that boy. What is his name by the way?"

"Tomy. I think he said his name is Tommy."

"Well, when Tommy is healthy, I think the first step to growing is apologizing to him."

Teka grumbled, but agreed. 

RyoGun sighed, setting down the book he had been flipping through and adjusted his silver colored glasses, bumping his fingers over some of the small compact redstone gems that adorned them. He looked up at Gallia who was looking at all the different books the study had. She was assumably trying to distract herself from what was going on with Tommy. 

The Piglin man moved onto a different book. He was trying to figure out something. None of this strange "Dream SMP" stuff was in any book he had read about the overworld. He took a few glaces back up at Gallia now and then.

"You know, worrying like this won't make him heal faster."

"I know. I can't help it."

Ryo chuckled, nodding slightly and going back to his book. Gallia sat down next to him and the fancy clothed table. 

"Hey, why are you here?" Gallia said while looking at the piles of books Ryo had gathered onto the table.

"What?"

"Why are you here? Last time we talked, you said you were going to the Central Empire to work with the Royal family. So why would you be back here?"

"I told you I was sent to look for a team of Zombie Piglin who had been sent to the Overworld but I got attacked so I ran until I was 100% sure that if I built a portal it would be in our territory."

"I get that, but why did you have that mission. Ryo, you're an alchemists and redstone expert. You're all about the books, not finding lost agent solders."

Ryo was silent, fliping to the next page of his book.

"Ryo, what happened to the Royal family…"

"....We aren't sure. All we saw in the Queen's room was a white mask with a smile painted on it."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everytime you get a new chapter, I lost several years off my lifespan. Not in a bad way.  
> Please leave comments if you like it! They make me heart do silly serotonin to brain. Therapy is expensive, AO3 comments are free.
> 
> Also I have a tumblr. It's goat-guy-tm. I also have a twitter. Its @GoatGuyTM. So yeah :)


	5. Maybe Family can be Hellish

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tommy wakes up, feeling like shit and learns of some upsetting news, beats up his new friend and learns that maybe an old one is out there looking for him.

Everything felt…muddled. It felt like he was walking through water, but not clean water. Everything felt hot. Hotter than usual. Since when was Logsted this hot?

Tommy groaned, trying to open his eyes slowly. They felt glued shut and heavy. He reached up to wipe at them, and then again when he noticed his left hand wasn't touching his face. He shifted his arms to hoist himself up, and let out a yelp when he lost his balance and almost toppled over when his left arm didn't hold his weight. Finally, he opened his right eye and looked down, taking in the light grey bed sheets, the blackstone walls and concrete floor. 

Next was his arm. His left arm specifically. He turned to look at it and…it wasn't there. What he did see was a bandaged up stump of an upper arm. That's when everything flooded back to him. The sudden sharp burning pain registering, or what was still there. The healing pots could only do so much. 

He went to go hold his arm on instinct, and whined in pain when he couldn't grab anything. His breathing started to get heavy and ragged. Why was he here? What the hell happened to his arm? Why could he only see out of his right eye? Why did everything sound so muffled? Why did everything hurt?

Tommy's brain spun. His oxygen was short and burned his throat. Having a panic attack in the Nether wasn't fun. 

Then, he felt a pair of arms wrap around him. He shakily moved his head. over, looking at the Blaze woman who was now sat next to him, caressing his head.

"Hey kid, it's okay. I know it hurts and you might have no clue why you're missing an arm but just now you're safe. You'll be taken good care of here. Don't you worry. Before long, you'll be up on your feet again."

The teen was shaking, silent tears streaming down his face. Everything was so confusing. He hurt in more ways than physical. Part of him wanted to vomit and the other wanted to scream. Reluctantly, he leaned his head on the woman's shoulder. 

After a maybe ten minutes, Tommy finally was able to compose himself a little bit. Enough for the woman to stand back up and walk over to a small table with healing pots and bandages on it. She silently picked them up and walked back over to Tommy, unwrapping the old bandages and wrapping a new layer of soaked and dry ones onto the arm stump. 

Once what was left of the arm had a new wrap around it, she moved to remove the bandages on Tommy's face, which caused Tommy to flinch back, looking at her with a confused expression.

"Wh-what are you doing?"

"I gotta change your bandages bud."

"You did. The ones on my arm, you changed them."

"There are also bandages on your neck and face. Those ones need changed too."

Tommy said nothing in return, just sat there as the woman unwrapped the younger's face and cleaned the wound a bit more. Tommy flinched a bit, the water sending a small spark of pain from it cleaning whatever injury he had on his face. 

"Thanks to the healing pots you've healed in no time, but it'll most likely scar. There's only so much tissue they can heal, and with such a large injury, it won't look too pretty."

"Nice sugar coating it asshole."

"Hey, I'm only being honest with you kid. You got majorly fucked up so your face will be majorly fucked."

The blonde just nodded, fiddling with the hem of the light grey blanket with his right hand. 

"By the way, I'm Doctor Julian Weller. You can just refer to me as Wellser."

"Why do I need to know your name?"

"Hmm I just think if you remember me now, it'll come in hand sometime in the future."

"Okay. Ominous prick."

Tommy sighed, looking down at the crimson wood prosthetic arm. He looked back up at Quincen and Flare, who had gifted it to him. He had been out of that hospital room for a week now and was trying to get used to moving around again, learning how to do most things with just one arm and one well seeing eye. Now he had a new, wood hand.

"So uh, how does this fucking work?"

"It's enchanted so it can sense what you want to do, how you want to move it, if you want to pick up something, all that kind of stuff. It'll take some getting used to, but I think you'll get the hang of it eventually."

Quincen smiled down at him. Tommy was thankful for this. He simply nodded and went to go put it on the stub before looking back at the twins. 

"Um...Could I get some help here?"

"Oh oh yeah! Sorry." Qincen slipped the wooden prosthetic onto the stump, clicking and latching different bits and bobs into place. 

With a held in breath, Tommy turned his arm, the wooden appendage moving as if it was a real arm. He looked in awe, clenching and unclenching the hand. Everytime a joint moved he could hear the wood scrape against itself or make a clicking sound. It wasn't perfect, but damn if it wasn't close. 

Flare chuckled. "It isn't much. I had a hell of a time getting the pinky finger to move properly for the longest time."

"You made this?! In under a week? Holy shit."

"Oh no, not under a week. I had it in the works for a while, but you needing a new arm got my ass into gear, because it meant I had an actual reason to finish it."

"That's nice and all but why were you even making a wooden arm?"

"What, do you guys in the Overworld just not lose limbs?" 

"No we do."

"Same here. In the Nether we don't have much when it comes to self preservation. So, I strive to be the first to make a properly working fire and lava proof prosthetic that can aid in not only everyday tasks but also in fighting. Speaking of! Tommy, you seem like someone who knows how to throw around a few punches. Wanna spare?"

"That request came out of nowhere. Uh, sure I guess. I'm definitely rusty though."

"That's okay. I'm not really trained in combat, so you being rusty should be a good thing. Won't get my shit kicked in."

Tommy laughed, standing up and dusting off his lap and shoulders. Flare moved back a few feet away from him, readying his fists. 

"Oh are weapons not allowed?"

".....You have a weapon on you?!"

"Of course I do!" Tommy took his Diamond sword out of his inventory and showed it to Flare. 

"No weapons aren't fucking allowed you could kill me with that thing."

"Fine. You're no fun." Tommy flicked his hand, sending the sword back into his inventory. He did the same as Flare, raising his fists. This felt familiar. At least they weren't in a pit and Tommy didn't have his psycho older brother telling him to kill someone. 

Flare smirked and launched himself forward, taking a swing at Tommy. Tommy wasn't expecting the sudden move, but his instincts kicked in quickly, making him dodge and punch Flare hard on the side of his head. The magma-piglin hybrid tumbled from the force of the blow, tripping slightly and holding his head. He looked over at Tommy, wide eyed.

"Holy fuck man that hurt! I wasn't wrong about you packing a punch!"

He was quickly back into position, motioning Tommy to make the first move this time. Tommy would have, except he still remembered what he had been taught during the war and Pogtopia. His mind was racing, carefully watching Flare's movements and body language. The other was very loose, and was leaning more to the right. A right hook, except Tommy could see it, a slight twitch of his left wrist. He was gonna try and juke him. 

Tommy took it, closing the distance and going to swing but stopping once Flare's right hand came up, ducking to the right to avoid the left hand coming up right after, causing Flare to punch himself in the face. Taking up the opportunity of the other's daze, Tommy kicked out the younger's legs from under him, sending him to the ground. 

It knocked the wind out of Flare, who was now coughing and trying to sit up. Tommy huffed, cracking his fingers and shaking his hands. 

"I'm assuming you asked me to fight because you wanted me to test out this new arm."

"Ye-yeah. Ow dude what the hell. You fight better than some of the guards I've seen. What's with that?"

"I was just taught from a young age is all."

"Bullshit. No one fights that well just because they were taught young. Teka came out the damn womb choosing violence and you fight better than her."

"It's nothing. I just know how to fight."

"oh come on Tommy! What, are you some kind of weird Overworld super soldier? You some kind of hybrid with super-human strength?"

"No." Tommy was starting to get annoyed and uncomfortable.

"Then tell us! I wanna know your secrets to fighting like that."

"I said no."

"Tommy please! Tell me!"

"Fine! You want to fucking know!? I'll fucking tell you! I was involved in a fucking war. I was forced into it years ago and was trained till I bled and threw up every single day for almost a full fucking year. So give up on living a good life if you want to be able to pummel people like that."

Flare was silent, not knowing what to say in response to something like that and Quincen was the same. Tommy was resembling slightly, wiping his nose with his right arm and tugging at the neck of the black tank top he was wearing. 

The magma-piglin got up and rubbed the blonde's shoulder, the fuzzy warm hand felt somewhat comforting. 

"Um, sorry. I didn't think it would be a heavy topic."

"Whatever. It's nothing."

"Nothing!? Dude you just admitted to being in a war at a fucking young age."

"I've moved on from it. I don't have to deal with it anymore." Tommy sighed and ruffled his own hair, shaking some of the red nether dust out. 

The soft wooden parts clicking together brought Tommy out of his train of thought. Something about how if he brought a chicken to the Nether would Henry get along with it. He was sat on a hay bail in the warm barn that belonged to Flare's family. There were Striders snoozing in some of the stalls and Hoglins huffing back and forth at each other. 

The crumpled note in his right hand felt sharp even on his dry hand. The note that had apparently been stuffed into the old jacket he had been wearing for almost months without realizing. He had read it and it hurt. He definitely cried…at least once. 

At a sudden frustrated huff, Tommy looked up to see Flare moving around the wooden appendage to make sure it moved properly. When the piglin hybrid seemed satisfied, he stood up and walked over to Tommy, holding out the wooden arm to the other.

"Here. I worked out that weird issue that caused it to seize up after you cracked your fingers. I think you might have accidentally broke a redstone connection or a slime string came loose. Thankfully no permanent damage."

"Yeah thankfully. Thanks man."

"No problem." Flare inhaled deeply and smiled. "Oh hey! Reker invited us to come and see something she had found out about in the warped forest a few blocks away. You wanna come to, or are you still tied to nothing fun because you gotta heal up?"

The blonde laughed, re-attaching the wooden arm to his stump. Over time it was becoming more comfortable and easier to do. OF course he wanted to go, and of course he was going to go.

"Hell yeah man! Just more ways to use this new arm of mine!"

Flare inhaled deeply and heavily padded Tommy on the shoulder and led him out of the barn-like building. 

Sometime later, the group of teens were trekking through the blue leaved forest, looking to avoid the gazes of the many Endermen who called it home. 

Tommy was confused as to why they would hang out here. It was kinda far from town and had so many fucking ender men in it. But that's when it caught his eye.

A small base of sorts. It had what looked like a burned and ripped L'manburg flag hanging on the front door. Next to the base was a Nether Portal. A sign on the portal gave vague directions to a village from what he could assume.

Reker pushed open the Warped blue door. The inside was plain and mainly held chests and a crafting table and some furnaces. All of the group filtered into the house, looking and snooping around. 

Upon moving to another room of the small base, Tommy saw a bed, which was counterproductive but ya know. On Top of said white bed was a handkerchief… a red one with with tag inside saying "Tubbo". 

The sounds of the Nether Portal pulling someone from one realm to theirs caught everyone's attention. 

Teka turned to look at the portal, sword drawn in defense of her friends. What came through wasn't what she expected but none the less someone still had a portal close to town, which was highly illegal. 

A box a few inches shorter than Tommy with brown hair stood there, held at sword point and confused.

"U-uh….hello?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :)


	6. The Tension Rises, the Nation Falls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Have a little taste of what's happening with the Overworld.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> L'manburg and Dream SMP nation follow my head canon that there sre waaay more people living there, like actual citizens and shit they just are never "important enough" to be named in the story.

Tubbo huffed out a sigh, his head thumping against his desk. Tensions in L'manburg, El Rapids and The Dream SMP Nation have been rising and he feels like there's nothing he can do about it. 

Quackity and Fundy were outside his office. He could hear them mummering about something but it was just out of earshot that he couldn't tell exactly what it was about. 

The president looked up as Ranboo set a book down onto his desk, signing the front page and closing it. 

"Here is the report from today's meeting between the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Bank. It was a lot of yelling but thankfully they actually were able to compromise in the end."

"Thank Prime. I thought I'd die before they can agree on anything…."

There was then a prolonged minute of silence before Ranboo spoke up.

"The compass still acting weird?"

"Yeah. He wouldn't just be in the Nether this long. It's been three days Ranboo. I'm starting to worry."

"Well, I would be too if my best friend was just in the Nether for three days straight-"

As Ranboo finished speaking, Fundy opened the door to Tubbo's office, straightening his suit coat and his hat. Quackity followed close behind, readjusting his beanie and having a stern look on his face.

"Tubbo, it's been decided." Fundy said, voice quiet and solemn.

"Huh? Wha-..What's been decided?"

"Tubbo, as citizens of L'manburg, we and other L'manburg citizens believe you are no longer suited for the position of President of our fine nation. President Tubbo, here is your letter of impeachment." The other said, placing a pen down in front of Tubbo.

Fundy placed a set of papers down on Tubbo's desk, an almost regretful look in the fox boy's eyes. Quackity, the one who just announced to Tubbo that he is getting kicked out of office, stood up to his full height, which of course next to Fundy and Ranboo wasn't much, but he was still taller than Tubbo so it was somewhat threatening.

It took Tubbo some time for this to all sink in and his anxiety started to spike up. 

"W-wait this has gotta be some joke right? I mean, I…I don't think I've done anything Schlstt or Wilbur like to cause this."

If it was some kind of sick joke, Quackity didn't seem to falter from the script. His eyes were cold and dead set into staring down Tubbo.

Tubbo looked through the papers, stating that the citizens no longer felt Tubbo was protecting them, their freedoms, anything of theirs and that he must be replaced by….replaced with his Vice President…Quackity. 

"This makes no sense Big Q! Why am I being kicked out of office? What did I do wrong?!" 

Quackity simply scoffed. "Sign the papers Tubbo. Do the smart thing and don't fight this. Oh and, once you give up your position as President, you will be banned from L'manburg for the foreseeable future. Exiled, if you will."

The poison lining those words were obvious and it hurt Tubbo. He really didn't have a choice, if the people of L'manburg did come together and decide he was to step down as President. After all, no kid should be president of a nation. 

Solemnly, he picked up the pen and sighed his name shakily on the last page.   
'I, Tubbo, step down as President of L'manbur and transfer the title and power to Quackity HQ.' 

Part of him felt sick for signing but he had to. 

As he set down the pen, Quackity grabbed him by the arm and almost forcefully dragged him out of the L'manburg White House. 

"Now scram Tubbo. Wouldn't want to be caught somewhere you're not supposed to be, right?"

Tubbo shuddered in fear, his eyes burning as he tried his hardest to hold back tears that pricked the edges of his eyes. 

Ranboo stood there, not knowing what to do.

Ghostbur yawned, stretching as he floated into the Nether portal. It had been awhile since he visited Logsted and he only just remembered that Tommy lived there. He wondered how Tommy was. 

As the ghostly steps neared the portal at the other side of the obsidian and cobble bridge, he noticed many Zombie Piglins standing near it. Strange. Tommy must have made friends with them! No wait, that's not how Zombie Piglins work. 

As he was about to walk through the portal, Dream walked out of it. Ghostbur didn't need to see the others' faces to tell he was pissed off. 

"Ah Ghostbur. Well look at you just visiting now. Mind telling me where in the FUCK Tommy is?"

"Where Tommy is? Well he's surely in Logsted mining or building some new funny little project of his!"

"Nope, he isn't. Not only is he nowhere to be seen, but Logsted is completely ransacked and empty. It was overrun with these Zombie Piglin fucks!" Dream spat out as he nudged one off the edge of the Netherrack platform. 

Ghostbur didn't like when Dream was mean to the Zombie Piglins. One new plus that came with being a ghost, was Wilbur could understand whatever someone said….con to being a ghost was that it also meant he could hear that Zombie Piglin Dream just pushed off the edge scream and begged for his life until he got buried in lava.

"Well m-maybe he got lost in the Nether or he left Logsted to get cool building materials!" Ghostbur stammered, trying to chose his words carefully so Dream would stop being angry. 

Dream just scoffed, let out a yell and punched the Nether Portal. It didn't break, but the soft wavy purple lights flickered and almost broke. 

"Whatever Ghostbur. Have fun looking for him." the smile left a sour taste in the ghost's mouth as he walked away. 

Once Dream had left, a Zombie Piglin spoke up, voice slow and slurred, which Ghostbur learned was common for Zombie Piglin.

"Was he talking about the….the kid?"

"I….believe so." 

"He is very….far for trying to find him."

Ghostbur sucked up his confidence and looked at the Zombie Piglins. They all remained unfazed by the ghost physically acknowledging them.

"H-how far is he?"

"......Huh?"

"The kid as you call him. How far away is he?"

"At least….a few days travel over the grand lava ocean."

"Thank you!" Ghostbur took off almost instantly, not looking back. He had enough blue to last him a few days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Double update cause I had the energy for once :]


	7. Your Tubbo, Your Tommy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The boys are back in town.

The brown haired boy shook, the point of the wooden sword held right in front of him, maybe only an inch away from his nose. 

Teka scoffed and snarled out a "who the hell are you?" but in Nether Tongue, only causing the boy to shake a bit more. 

Inside the small house, Heften grabbed Tommy's wrist, pulling him over to the window. 

"Dude look at that. Another overworld walker who wandered here like you."

It took a moment for it to settle in Tommy's head but once it did, he rushed out of the small house, slamming open the door. 

The shorter boy looked over in shock and fear at the sudden loud sound until his eyes laid on Tommy.

"T-Tubbo?"

"Tommy? Tommy oh my god!" 

Both boys ran towards each other, hugging tightly. Suddenly, Tubbo pulled back, looking at Tommy with wide eyes.

"Tommy…what the fuck happened to you?!"

"Uh… I fell…"

"Fell my ass! YOU'RE MISSING A FUCKING ARM?!"

"Well I did fall, just not on solid ground."

".....DID YOU FALL INTO LAVA?!"

".........Maybe."

Tubbo hugged the other again, this time tighter. Now to Tommy the Nether really felt like home. 

"Ah Tubbo! Tubster! You gotta meet my new bros!"

"New bros?"

"Yeah! These Nether folk that held you at sword point."

"...Oh"

Deklin chuckled, walking over to Tubbo and holding out her hand, which Tubbo shook only to pull back suddenly when the other's hand burned his own. 

"Well, that there is Deklin. She's part Blaze and over there is Heften, he's also part Blaze but they aren't related. The bitch who held you at sword point is Teka, that cool guy right there is Flare and that's Flare's brother Quincen. And next to you is Reker."

Confused, Tubbo looked next to him and was met with who he assumed Tommy called Reker, and yelped, jumping back once he realized the said person was a Zombie Piglin. 

"I believe Daisy is currently in their classes right now." Quincen said when he noticed Tommy seemed to be looking for the Wither Skeleton.

"Wither Skeleton's have classes?" Tommy asked, cocking his head to the side a bit.

"Yeah. They are usually royal guards and Daisy is taking up their family name."

"Oh awesome." Tubbo watched Tommy have what appeared as a one sided conversation. Tubbo couldn't understand Nether Tongue, thus it was listening to Tommy talk and then be responded to with strange quieter ghast like noises from Quincen. 

"Uh Tommy. I have no clue what any of them are saying."

"Oh that's okay Tubbo! Translating it is actually pretty easy. There's only one Nether Tongue, the different types of noises are just like accents."

"Wait, they're like accents?"

"Yeah that's what I just fucking said."

"Cool. Noted." 

That's when Tommy took notice that Tubbo wasn't wearing his presidential suit. He had gone back to the messy and wrongly buttoned down green shirt. That must be hot. 

The blonde sighed as he rested on Tubbo's bed, the red stained sheets puffing out dust as the impact was made. 

Tubbo chuckled at his friend, rummaging through his double chest and muttering something to himself. He let out a small "Ah-ha!" when he found what he was looking for, throwing Tommy a pair of goggles. 

Tommy had a gust of air blown out of him when the goggles fell onto his stomach. He picked them up, inspecting the sides. 

"Ay, didn't Sam give these to you?"

"Yep! I was helping him with a build and we were working with redstone so he advised I wear those. I've also learned they can really help not hurt your eyes when around lava. I've got a few pairs because Sam kept giving them to me every time he saw me. I think he just made too many pairs."

"Pog. So you're giving these to me to use?"

"Yep!"

"Well, a monocle version would probably be better."

"Oh haha so funny. You really gotta be careful around Lava man. You're clumsy and shit."

Tommy huffed, stretching the goggles above his head and let them rest with the strap around his neck and the glasses against his chest. He noticed Sam had etched "Sam :]" on the inside of one of the eye shield parts. The creeper-hybrid was always too nice in Tommy's opinion. 

Tubbo huffed as he laid out a bunch of empty glass bottles onto a table that sat against the wall next to his bed. The brunette pushed his bangs out of his face and looked over st Tommy.

"Do you know if there's a fortress nearby?"

"Uh nope. Why?"

"Well, I need a brewing stand and some Nether Wart."

The younger felt his blood run cold for a moment.

"Tubbo, man, Big T, Big Crime, Tubster listen to me; you under any circumstance cannot kill a Nether resident."

"wha-....Well how else am I going to get a brewing stand?"

"You just fuckin ask."

"....Just ask? Ask who?!"

"We can go into town and I can show you that the people here in the Nether have an actual stable community." 

"Okay. Well, take me into town then."

"Okay well get up Big Man. Let's go!"

Tommy stood up and grabbed Tubbo's wrist, dragging him out of his small shack. Everyone else had already made their way back to the town. It wasn't far, and they wanted to let the two friends catch up. 

Entering the large obsidian walls, Tubbo felt safe, unlike back in L'manburg, where Dream had gone back on his promise and refused to still take down the obsidian walls even with Tommy exiled. He noticed so many different kinds of people. Some looked full human, others seemed to be full on Nether mobs.

A few gave him looks, probably noticing either his large scars or that he was new to the town. He can't read minds so it could be either. 

Tommy led him to a shop of sorts that had a Crimson door to it, open wide with a few people walking in and out. Walking inside, it was quite cozy. There were brewing stands lining the walls, and some of them either looked different or were more complex, held more bottles, and had little bits and bobs that Tubbo had no clue what they helped with, but by Prime did it fascinate him. He knew exactly who would love this more than him. 

A Blaze-hybrid lady stood behind a counter, checking out a woman who held a baby Piglin in her arms. As the woman walked out, the cashier noticed Tubbo's curiosity and walked over to the teen. Leaning down and looking at the same brewing stand he seemed amazed at.

"Something catch your eye there buddy?"

Tubbo yelped, surprised by the sudden appearance of the woman. He simply nodded and wringed his hands together. 

"Well it's not too expensive. Surel you can treat yourself a bit and get a cool fancy Brewing Stand. This one right here was made by a woman named Kelta. She was known as a Brewing visionary, finding even more ingredients and potion types."

The shorter teen's eyes widened. He has no clue that Brewing had any kind of history to it. He looked at the price tag of the brewing stand. 8 Gold Blocks. That wasn't too bad, if you were someone who actively mined every gold ore you ever came across. Tubbo wasn't one of those kinds of people.

"Um, do you happen to have an Ender Chest here?"

"Of course! What kind of establishment would this be without an Ender Chest?"

Tubbo smiled, looking as the woman pointed to an Ender Chest near the counter. He walked over, opening it and grabbing the few gold blocks he had stored in there. It was only 3. He had used the others to buy food off of Puffy and Niki before he had left the Dream SMP nation for good. It had been worth it, cause it had taken over a week to find that Village in the Overworld. 

He sighed, slumping his shoulders and closing the Ender Chest, looking at Tommy and shaking his head. 

"I spent like 10 gold blocks buying food, so I don't have enough for the Stand."

"Man that sucks."

"It's okay kid. You seem like a good guy, so here, give me a hand in collecting some Overworld mushrooms and the blocks of gold you do have and I'll give you the Stand."

"Wait, really?"

"Yeah. I've been running low on Mushrooms so the help would be nice."

"Well, how many do you need?"

"About 30 would be nice. But, if you come back with more or with both kinds of mushrooms, I can always throw in some blaze powder or any ingredient equivalent."

"Thank you so much! I can get you those mushrooms asap!"

Tubbo grabbed onto Tommy's wrist and dragged him back outside, giddy and excited to go on a little mission.

Tommy was just happy to finally have his Tubbo back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell I'm slowly trying to get you guys to like the Nether more? Lol.  
> Anywaysz would y'all be interested in more Nether Folk/Resident -centric chapters? Been tempted to mske them but I'm not sure yet.


	8. A Day Dream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things have started to take motion. People are leaving the small nether town, and a new someone finds Tommy.

RyoGun deeply sighed, flipping through his book a few more times. Gallia was talking about something pertaining to Tommy, which not to be rude to the kid, Ryo couldn't really give two shits about at the moment.

All that was on his mind is that damn smiley face mask. That one that the supposed "Dream" wore looked just like it but something was still off. Maybe because Dream's wasn't chipped, or that it was bigger than the one found in the Royal Capital…. Or maybe because the one in the Capital wasn't a smile at all.

In the middle of Gallia's sentence, Ryo shot up out of his seat and rushed over to another bookshelf that had been almost fully emptied by said Piglin man. He threw a few books out of the way, reaching deep into the back of the shelf and pulling out a file. In his haste, a picture fell out of the file; the picture of a bloody mask with an anger filled frown painted onto it. That's what was fucking him over. He had just forgotten the specific details of the mask. 

  
  


Dream sighed, looking down at the old, crumpled picture that sat in the bottom of his chest. Why did it all have to catch up now? 

He picked up the picture, turning it over and reading the thick handwriting on the back. It was addressed to someone but the name was smeared. But the message, no matter who it was addressed to, was bone chilling to Dream. 

''I have a feeling many years from now you will finally be reincarnated, friend, and then we can go back to ruling these lands with the iron fist like we had promised to. I may not be here when you come back. But know that if I am not, take up my son for his help. He won't be given a choice. My steps are his to continue. This path is rocky, but we will carve it with bloody, bare hands if need be. One day my friend, you will be king once more. 

~Day-Dream''

Day-Dream….A name lost to time just like the rest of them. A name Dream wishes could just dissipate like all the others.

  
  
  


The court was busling, people running back and forth non stop. A Piglin woman burst open the large doors to the deep staircase, rushing down as fast as possible. 

The large beast at the bottom rumbled, disturbed by the knowledge of a new presence in their wake. Blurred and cloudy eyes opened, gazing upon the newcomer. 

"It took you long enough. I started to believe I may run out of time before someone became aware of my signs."

"Elder, please. Tell me what it is that you have knowledge of!"

The large gold scaled beast sighed, shifting and looking down at the Piglin. 

"The actions must be put in motion. In Hobble Step there is a young boy. The Burn Brights have decided. He is to be the next ruler of our lands."

  
  
  
  


Tommy woke up, rubbing at his right eye and reaching over to de-gunk his left one as well. It looked like it was still late outside. Him and Tubbo had decided to stay in the Overworld overnight, planning on hunting for mushrooms all morning and then heading back before sun down. 

Tubbo alone had almost a stack of them. He had gone into the village and found a farmer actually trading them off for almost nothing. Tommy also had around a stack or so. He had found one of those large spruce tree biomes and the ground was covered in em. 

The small village Tubbo had found and set a Nether Portal next to was quite comfy seeming. Everyone was nice and treated Tubbo kindly. The brunette had been given some new sets of clothing from a seamstress in the village, having a new set that would be more comfortable and less sweaty in the Nether. 

  
  


Soft Piglin groans filtered through the air as the two teens made their way back to the small Nether Town. Tubbo the entire time had seemed to be more in his thoughts then the real world. He was still blaming himself… for everything. 

Maybe…maybe if he never exiled Tommy, then Tommy would still have his left arm, maybe he would still have two working eyes. He didn't want to say sorry, because deep down he knew Tommy would be more upset if he apologized, probably telling Tubbo to stop pitying him. 

What brought him out of his head this time was tripping over a Warped Tree root, falling face first into the strange Netherrack with an audible "omf". Tommy of course pointed and laughed at the shorter, calling him clumsy as he helped him back to his feet. 

Entering the Obsidian walls, the two friends made a straight line for the potion shop, Tommy pushing open the door with his back as he carried the mass amount of mushrooms in his arms, letting Tubbo in first. They both walked over to the counter where the woman that had asked for the mushrooms before stood, going through a bad of golden nuggets. 

She looked up, astonished by the amount of mushrooms the boys had gathered. Trading them off for the brewing stand Tubbo had his eyes on and some other potion ingredients. 

They sat outside on a bench facing the blackstone road. Tubbo was rambling about how cool he thought the Nether was now, since Tommy had shown him around the town and showed him some of the amazing things the Nether actually had to offer. 

Most of the two's Nether friends were busy today. Both Teka and Daisy were busy with guard training, Flare had said they needed to work on a better prosthetic for Tommy, Quinsen was helping out with his adopted parents Strider ranch, Heften was off probably committing a felony, Decklin had moved on with her parents, saying that they were heading to a town known as Hobble Step since more defenses were being sent to this small border city, Reker had also done the same with her family, and Vessa was…Vessa was actually sitting with them, but he was being quiet. 

Before Reker and Deklin had moved, everyone promised to visit them in Hobble Step if possible. Heften definitely cried when he got the news that Deklin had to move. The two may not be related, but they sure as hell were family to each other. 

Tubbo sighed, fiddling with his hands. He looked over to Tommy, who was just staring at Henry, who was eating a shrub currently. 

He would have to tell the younger eventually.

"Hey Tommy? Um, I have something I think is kinda important to mention to you."

"Hm? What is it Big T?"

"Well, you know how I'm here, and not in L'manburg?"

"Yeah I thought that was fishy, but I thought you might just be taking a vacation."

"Well actually it's kind of ironic…"

"What is?"

"...Big Q actually made me step down from my position as president and then exiled me. So…Big Q is now the president of L'manburg….wait he's now the president of L'manburg and El Rapids!"

"WHAT THE FUCK?! You just let him do that?!"

"Well, part of me knows it was probably a good thing but still mean of him to do."

"That's just not mean of him, it's fucking hellish! He had no right to do that!"

"Well…legally he actually did because L'manburg is a democracy and in most democracies if your government is no longer protecting you you have a right to overthrow it and rebuild…you know, like what we did with Schlatt."

"....Okay you do have a point… BUT STILL HE'S AN ASSHOLE FOR DOING THAT!"

"Well by that standard that makes us assholes for staging a revolution against Schlatt!"

Tommy went silent at that, a nervous look painting his face. Vessa, who was sitting on the other side of Tommy, looks confused as shit. 

Both boys stopped talking about the old L'manburg when Tommy noticed Gallia and RyoGun walking up to their bench. The two had more serious looks on.

"Uh what's going on Gallia?" Tommy asked, fiddling with his wooden hand.

"We are going to be leaving for Hobble Step soon. Make sure you've got everything and get ready to go. You too Tubbo."

"W-wait!" Tubbo stood up suddenly. "We can't leave yet!"

"...Why not?"

"Uh there's someone I need to look for. Tommy, we should go check my shack."

"Uh okay Tubbo. Weird bitch."

Tubbo grabbed onto Tommy and dragged him back to said shack that was basically empty. It had been cleared out when Gallia had decided that Tubbo would be staying with her and Tommy. The taller was confused, looking around for someone, since Tubbo had said he was looking for someone.

What, or who, caught his eye though was not who he was expecting. A grey dull see through figure stood in front of the warped door,fiddling with the door knob and looking around anxiously.

Said figure turned and looked at Tubbo and Tommy, and he almost seemed to tear up when his eyes landed on Tommy. He rushed forward, well more like floated forward very quickly and hugged Tommy. The teen shivered at the cold embrace.

There was a moment of silence before Tommy shakily spoke.

"H-...Hey Ghostbur."

* * *

I have a [discord](https://discord.gg/rVpZcBUwMX) for this au :]

Also check out my [Tumblr](http://goat-guy-tm.tumblr.com), and my [Twitter](https://twitter.com/GoatGuyTM?s=09) i sometimes use :]

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, the Epic SMP happened and I screamed about it for like an hour. Also, I've been listening to "How Did You Love" by Shinedown and it's a pretty awesome song.
> 
> Also the new Eggpire/Egg plot is what I've been waiting for. So excited.
> 
> Anywaus; kudos, comments and anything else is loved!

**Author's Note:**

> Hope this is good so far! This au has been flushed out a good bit and I can't wait to share woth others!  
> Kudos and Comments are loved and appreciated!! <33 :]


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